Type-writing machine



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H m Rm A M L.G IN H M W W vRN Y T Patented Mar 2, 1897" Inventor J: Frederic Hi' ll ETEL Witn'e 5 525 QAHurh W72 WM, '%/M 5.6%

THE vac 1km: PETERS co. mo'rmJmQ, wunma'ron u c UNITED STATES PATENT @EEicE.

FREDERIO W. HILLARD, OF NEW'ARK, NEW JERSEY.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,982, dated March 2, 1897. A li ation filed November 16,1891. Serial No. 412,018. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERIC W. HILLARD, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Type-Writers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in typewriting machines constructed to feed the paper during the stroke on the key, the object of the inventionbeing to prevent the type from striking the paper two or more times during a single depression of the key or from being inadvertently held against the paper, and thus to avoid multiple impressions and blurring in the print. The joints between the key-lever, connecting-wire, and typebearer are all generally somewhat loose, and the type-bearer thus has a certain play independent of the key. Therefore in machines constructed to feed the paper during the stroke if a key be inadvertently held down after a blow the type will either rebound and strike the paper one or more times after the first impression has been made, thereby causing, besides the primary impression which should appear, a secondary distinct though fainter impression, which is extremely objectionable, or else by being held continually against the paper it will cause a blur in the print. Holding the key down also causes the machine to act more sluggishly since the force of the rebound of the type from the inkingribbon or paper, which should return the typebearer quickly to normal position, is lost, and the additional motion of the type-bearers increases the rattling of the machine and impairs the alinement of the printing. Also when a key is driven down forcibly by a blow and where the operator continues to force the key down farther and farther, as he is naturally inclined to do, until the type strikes on the paper, the key is then brought to an abrupt stop. This jars the machine and jars the operator and it continued for several hours on the stretch daily comes to be very wearing nervously and hard on the fingers. All of these defectsviz. double printing, blurring, sluggishness, and abrupt stoppage of the keyscan be avoided by cultivating the staccato stroke, which does not drive the key through its entire path and does not hold it down at all. This does not interfere with the printing for the type-bearer acquires suffi cient momentum during the first half or three-quarters of a stroke to carry the type against the paper and print; but even an expert operator must acquire a special touch to print thus with perfect clearness, and after having acquired the touch will not always practice it when subjected to interruptions or wearied by long-continu-ed work.

The action of the type-bearer may be likened to that of a hammer on an anvil. If an attempt be made to hold the hammer down when a blow is struck, it will strike the anvil repeatedly; but if the hammer be allowed to spring back without resistance there will be but one sharp blow. 111 the former case the momentum of the hammer will be expended in repeated and useless blows, while in the latter case that energy will be utilized in returning the hammer into position for the next blow.

It is my aim to so construct a machine that any operator without acquiring a special stroke can, while working at high speed, produce clear printing; and my invention consists, broadly, in adding a device which will produce a noticeable recussion or retraction of the key when it has been so far depressed as to throw the type against the paper with suflicient force for good printing, and will thus cause any operator to lift the finger instin ctively2'. 6., it will make the staccato the natural stroke. In the claims I call such a device a repulser.

My invention consists, further, in the specific devices for accomplishing the result herein described and shown.

The accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, show my invention applied to a Remington and a Smith Premier machine, but a skilled mechanic will readily apply it to any style of type-writing machine.

Figure 1 is an elevation of one-half of the Remington seen frombelow. v Fig. 2isacrosssection of the lower part of the machine shown in Fig. 1 on the line of the universal bar. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the lower part of the Smith Premier machine seen from above. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are detail views of modifications of the Remington construction, showing pneumatic and gravity repulsers.

In all of the above figures my invention is shown.

I11 Fig. 1, A is the universal bar, which is depressed by each of the keys and operates the escapement. Beneath this bar, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, I attach firmly to each of the sides of the base, by screws or otherwise, a stiff spring B, preferably of resilient metal, which projects under the bar and carries on its end a tip 0, preferably of rubber. This spring is adjusted in position by a set-screw D, which passes through a hole in the spring and engages with a lug E, cast on or firmly attached to the side plates and properly threaded 10 receive the screw.

F is a reversed escapement. As shown, the detaining-dog engages the rack while the machine is at rest and the spacing-dog engages the rack upon depressing the key. Thus the paper is fed forward during the stroke instead of after the stroke, as is more common.

In this specification I designate an escapement in which the detaining element in one of the members (herein shown as a detainingdog) normally engages with the other member (herein shown as a rack) while the machine is at rest, as a reversed escapement, in contradistinction to the old or ordinary escapement, which is one wherein the spacing element normally engages the other member while the machine is at rest. The reversed escapement is now also very commonly designated commercially as a speedescapement.

The meaning of the terms reversed escapement and speed-escapement should not, however, be confounded with one another, since the term speed-escapement covers a broader meaning than does the term reversed escapement.

In the United States patent to G. B. Vebb, No. 555,138, dated February 25, 1896, the term reversed escapement is used and a certain limited and fixed definition given theretoviz., an escapement in which the carriage is released for its whole letter-space feed prior to the printing. Thus, for example, the escapement shown in Fig. 1 is a reversed escapement. On the other hand, a speed-escapement may be defined as one constructed to release the carriage for all or a substantial part of its 1etter-space feed prior to the printing, and I include within the meaning of the last-named term all escapements which permit a substantial feed of the carriage prior to the printing, that is to say, which permit the carriage to feed forward prior to the printing so far as to cause blurring or double impressions in the print. In the Smith Premier type-writer (illustrated in Fig. 3) the escapement (not shown) is of the form illustrated and described in United States patent to A. T. Brown, No. 436,333, dated September 16, 1890, and with this latter escapement the best results are obtained with my repulser by so adjusting the two dogs that the carriage is released for onehalf of its feed prior to the printing and for the other half of the feed'after the printing, since this arrangement gives a feed substantially as fast and much smoother than a reversed escapement. The Smith-Premier escapement arranged in this manner is a speedescapement, but does not come within the meaning of the term reversed escapement as defined in the IVebb patent cited.

I include reversed escapements within the meaning of the term speed-escapement in the sense in which I use the terms in the claims.

The other parts of the machine are as follows: K is the connecting rod or wire between the key-lever and the type-bearer L. M indicates the type. N is the printingplaten; O, the connecting-rod which joins the universal bar and the bar P, that operates the spacing-rocker carrying the dogs. Q is the hanger, to which the type-bearer is pivoted.

In Fig. 3 there is attached to the gate or universal bar of the Smith Premier a lug B, through the upper end of which passes an adj listing-screw O, which impinges against the rubber tip I) on the face of the spring E, erected on the rear plate on the base of the machine.

The springs in the above figures should be so adjusted as to come into action somewhat before the type strikes the paper or inkingribbon and should be strong enough to act sharply, as they have but short time in which to act. The effect is as follows: At first they yield to the blow of the finger and do not interfere with the printing, if correctly set, but immediately they tend to fly back to normal position. In so doing they press upward the key-lever and finger. The finger is thus started back just at the right time to prevent holding the key down and thereby causing the rebound of the type-bearer and the attendant double printing, blurring, sluggishness, and jarring above referred to. This is all that an operator needs to cause him to withdraw his finger, as I have found by practice. The looseness in the joints between the key-lever and connecting-wire and between the connecting-wire and the type-bearer permits the type to be carried up or finish its excursion to the printing-center to print under the force of the momentum even after the key-lever has been started back toward normal position by the repulser.

It will be obvious that there is considerable latitude as to form, location, and manner of attachment of the springs. Thus in Fig. 4

there is shown a modification of the Remington machine in which the universal bar A is placed under the front end of the key-levers, being firmly fastened to the lever B, which is pivoted on the shaft S. At the rear end IIS the lever R is hinged to the perpendicular piston-rod T. At its upper end the pistonrod is hinged to the piston U. When a key has been so far depressed as to contact with the universal bar A thereby depressing it, the piston is forced up into the cylinder V, compressing the air contained therein and so effecting the reoussion of the key. The weight of the piston assists in returning the repulser to normal position, and there is a valve WV opening inwardly into the top of the cylinder, which allows the air-chamber to become completely refilled in case any leakage occurs.

Fig. 5 shows a repulser acting on the keylever directly. In this modification there is an air-chamber on top of the front end'of the key-lever, and the stem of the key acts as the piston. When a blow is struck, the key is depressed until the pressure of the air on the key-lever becomes great enough to overcome the key-lever-retaining springX. Then the key-lever is depressed and the type-bearer is driven up until the type strikes on the paper, and as the key is depressed still farther into the air-chamber the repulser effect immediately follows. A slender spiral spring Y assists in returning the key to normal position, and the cylinder is provided with the valve WV, opening inwardly;

In Fig. 6 the rocker-frame F is provided with the rearwardly-extending arm Z, connected with the piston U in the cylinder V. The pin on the rearwardly-extending arm of the spacing-rocker travels from the bottom to the top of the slot in the upper end of the piston-rod on depression of a key and thus prevents any action of the repulser on the key until about the time the type impinges on the platen. Gravity and the retainingspring F cooperate to return the parts to normal position.

It will be noticed that inthe repulser shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 in some of the cylinders the air is compressed, while in others it is rarefied, and that in Figs. 4 and 6 gravity ,assists in returning the parts to normal position. In Figs. 4 and 6 the pistons may be made very much heavier than shown, and they may be fitted loosely into the cylinders. Then the repulser effect will follow from gravity alone.

It is immaterial what force is employed to effect the recussion of the key. Thus the force of gravity may be utilized by weighted levers to give the desired rebound to the key and finger or the force of resilient metal or the force of compressed air, all as described and shown herein.

It will be noticed also that the repnlsers shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 all act on a universal bar, but that the repulser shown in Fig. 5 does not act on a universal bar. It is not necessary that the universal bar on which the repulser acts shall be the one attached to the spacing-rocker frame. Thus there may sal bar, and through it the escapement, is the v only part of the machine which is acted upon by each of the keys and which is suitable as a seat for the repulser. (In a type-bar machine the universal bar is the only part acted on by all the keys, while in a type-wheel machine the type-Wheel is operated by all of the keys; but the repulser cannot be attached to the type-wheel mechanism conveniently without interfering with the impact of the type on the platen.) Hence a single repulser-spring arranged to act on the universal bar will tran smit the recussion to whichever key may be depressed.

It is not necessary that the repulser act directly on the universal bar. It may be attached to any part of the escapement, and through the escapement act on the universal bar, and thus transmit the recussion to the key. Thus in Fig. 6 the repulser is attached on the rearwardly-extending arm of the spacing-rocker.

My repulser should be carefully distinguished from the other parts in the machine which tend to hold up the key or to lift it after it has been depressed. For example, I have shown my invention as applied to the Remington type-writer. In this machine there are several parts which act on the key to hold it up and to lift it after it has been depressed. Thus there are the lifting-springs fixed under the several key-levers, which hold the keys up and which must be compressed as soon as the keys begin to be depressed. Then there is a spring attached to the spacing-rocker, which holds one of the dogs normally in engagement with the rack when the machine is at rest and which returns that dog into engagement with the rack after they have been disengaged from one another by the depression of the key. Also in addition to these two springs (the key-lever-lifting spring and the spacing-rocker-retaining spring) there is the carriage-mainspring. This spring pulls the rack forcibly against the dog with which it normally engages, so that a considerable force on the key is required to disengage them. The combined force of all three of these springs, as well as the inertia of the type-bar and other parts operated, has to be overcome by the blow on the key in order to drive the type against the platen and print and to vibrate the spacing-rocker, so that the carriage maybe fed forward by its mainspring. It is of course desirable to utilize as large a part of the force of the blow on the key as possible to effect the printing. Therefore the key-lever-lifting spring, the spacing-rocker-retaining spring, and the carriage-mainspring are all tensioned as lightly as is possible consistent with a sufficiently speedy action of the parts. On the other hand my repulser does not offer any resistance to the key until the requisite momentum has been imparted to the type-bearer. Then the repulser comes into action and produces a noticeable recussion on the key, but it offers little or no resistance to the impact of the type on the platen.

Any spring or other force which is brought into action with the key after the key has been so far depressed as to impart momentum to the type-bearer sufficient to effect clear printing, and after it has disengaged the engaging members in the escapement, so as to insure the spacing of the platen, and which then imparts a recussion to the key, comes within the meaning of the term repulser as I make use of that term in the claims. I wish it to be understood, however, that the parts may be so arranged or adjusted that when a quick or staccato blow is struck on the key and the key only partially depressed the re- D pulser will not be brought into action at all.

' l/Vhile my repulser should be so arranged as not to check the type-bearer or interfere with the printing, it does not follow that it should not act on the type-bearer after the impact of the type on the platen. On the contrary, the repulser may be of very material assistance after the printing has taken place in promptly returning the type-bearer into the type basket or buffer, where it normally rests when not in use. Thus in Fig. 1 the repulser comes into use somewhat before the type strikes on the platen, thus starting the key hack to its normal position before the printing has taken place; but the looseness in the joints between the key-lever and connecting-wire and between the connectingwire and the type-bar permits the type to be carried up and finish its excursion to the platen after the key-lever has been started back to its normal position. This movement of the key back to its normal position while the type-bar is still carrying the type toward the platen results in the taking up of the looseness or play between the key-lever and the type-bar. Hence the recussion which has been imparted from the repulser to the keylever is transmitted from the key-lever to the type-bar after the impression of the type on the paper and assists in returning the typebar quickly to its position of rest in the basket.

There are particular advantages in so timing the parts which are brought into action by the key that they shall be engaged one after the other while the key is being depressed, instead of all at the same time. Less forceis then required in the blow on the key. For instance, in the constructions that Ishow (the Remington and Smith Premier machines) the first opposition which is met on depression of the key is the key-levenlifting spring. Then when the key has been depressed sufficiently to take up the looseness in the joints between the key-lever and type-bar the typebar is started on its excursion to the platen, and when the key has been carried down a little farther the universal bar is engaged and the spacing-rocker vibrated. Thus the resistance of the key-lever-lifting spring is first overcome, then the inertia of the typebar, and, finally, the inertia of the spacingrocker, the resilience of its retaining-spring and the friction between the rack and the dog caused by the pull of the mainspring. To these parts I add one more, which is engaged last of all-viz., my repulser. Its functions are to take up the surplus energy of the blow on the key, so as to avoid the injurious effects that arise from the dissipation of such energy, and, furthermore, to utilize that energy in starting the key-lever and the spacing-rocker quickly back to their normal positions. In a word, my repulser stores up energy which in machines as now constructed is Worse than useless and utilizes such energy to perform useful labor.

In machines provided with reversed escapements my repulser performs a peculiar function, thereby obviating them 0st serious weakness inherent in reversed escapementsviz., the extreme difficulty of practicing the staccato blow successfully with such escapements. This difficulty is due to the fact that with such escapements the greatest resistance is met with during the first part of the depression of the key instead of during the latter part of the depression, as is the case with ordinary escapements. With ordinary escapements the friction caused between the rack and the dog, with which it engages by the pull of the inainspring, which friction has to be overcome while vibrating the dog across the rack-tooth to feed the carriage, remains constant during the entire depression of the key. This friction constitutes the most serious resistance which has to be overcome to depress the key, especially since in addition to this friction the resilience of the spring which returns the dogs to their normal position must also be overcome and since this latter spring has to be strong enough to itself overcome the friction between the rack and the dogs, as otherwise it could not return the dogs to their normal positions after the release of the key. The stout rocker-frame-returning spring, therefore, has to be stretched more and more the farther the key is depressed, and consequently it is easy and natural for the operator to practice the staccato blow with this kind of escapement. In fact, the combined resistance offered by the friction between the members and by the resilience of the strong rocker-frame-returning spring, oiferin g greater and greater resistance the lower the key is depressed, has much the same effect on the finger of the operator as did the anvil upon the sledge-hammer in the illustration previously given. With reversal escapements, on the other hand, the resistance caused by the pull of the mainspring is entirely removed as soon as the key has been depressed sufiiciently to withdraw the detaining-dog from the rack, since the mainspring is then free to space the carriage, and the friction between the rack and the dog is therefore removed, so that while the operator has to strike a blow of some force to begin the depression of the key by the time the key has been so far depressed that he should begin to lift his finger the detaining-dog will have been withdrawn from the rack, and consequently the resistance offered to the further depression of the key is much less than it was during the early part of the stroke. The result is that the operator, being deprived of the assistance offered by the ordinary escapement in lifting the finger after the stroke, finds it very difficult to lift his finger quickly enough to prevent blurring or double impressions in the print. The difference between the ordinary and reversed escapements in this respect may be readily understood by again referring to the illustration of the hammer and anvil and by supposing that in place of the anvil the hammer be struck upon abar of iron weak enough so that it will break it in two. In this latter case the hammer, instead of rebounding as it did from the anvil by the force of its own momentum will follow the bar which it hasbroken, and must be slowly and laboriously lifted by dead-Weight to its position for another blow. With reversed escapements the operator, so to speak, breaks through the resistance and then is naturally inclined to follow the key down until the type strikes on the paper, when his blow will be brought to a stop, but abruptly and not until blurring or double impression in the print has occurred, owing to the movement of the paper while the type is in contact with it.

My repulser offers a springy cushion (like that of the anvil) after the resistance of the first part of the blow has been overcome and before any blurring or double impression in the print has occurred. Its new and peculiar function, then, with reversed escapements is to artificially provide a springy resistance which comes into play in time to assist the operator in lifting his finger after the necessary momentum has been imparted to the type-bearer to cause clear printing. It supplies an element which is lacking in reversed escapements unless artificially provided, but which is always present in ordinary escapements.

In some type-writing machines the universal bar is arranged to be depressed by the depression of the keys, while in others it is arranged to be lifted by the depression of the keys. I designate this movement of the universal bar as the path in which it reciprocates. It is immaterial for the purposes of this invention what the direction of that path may be. For instance, it may be depressed and then lifted, or lifted and then depressed, or otherwise reciprocated. In like manner I designate the movement of the spacing-rocker as the path in which it reciprocates; likewise the path-of the key.

By the term type-bearer I mean the vehicle of the type. In the drawings the typebar constitutes this vehicle; but there are various type-bearers known in the art, as, for instance, type-wheels, type-segments, and type-slides. I class all such vehicles under the general designation of type-bearers. They are all applicable with my invention.

By the normal engagement of the parts in the escapement I mean the engagement of the parts when the machine is at rest. Thus in Fig. 1 the rack and the detaining-dog are shown in their normal engagement. lVhere in the claims I use the terms disengaging one of the engaging members in the escapement from the element with which it normally engages and disengaging the rack from the dog with which it normally engages, I mean disengaging the parts which are'in engagement when the machine is at rest. Thus in Fig. 1 when the detaining-dog has been withdrawn. from the rack on the depression of a key the rack is then disengaged from the dog with which it normally engages.

By the term type-Writing machine I mean to include all typographical machines which are provided with the keyboards for operating to print characters.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In atype-writing machine, the combination of a key, a repulser therefor normally free from the key, a speed-escapement, means for depressing the key and disengaging the normally engaging members in the escapement, means for bringing the said repulser into action while the normally engaging members are disengaged, and means for restoring the key and the escapement to their normal positions, substantially as described.

2. In a type-writing machine, the combination of a key, a repulser therefor normally free from the key, an escapement comprising two members which normally engage together and can be disengaged and rengaged and one of which can be spaced step by step with respect to and .under control of the other, means for depressing the key and disengagin g the escapement members, means for feeding the spaced member when disengaged, means for bringing the said repulser into action while the normally engaging escapement members aredisengaged, and means for restoring the key and the escapement to their normal positions, substantially as described.

3. In a type-writing machine, the combination of a key, a repulser therefor normally free from the key, an escapement comprising a rack which can be spaced step by step and a dog which normally engages therewith and can be disengaged and rengaged, means for depressing the key and disengaging the dog from the rack, means for spacing the rack when disengaged, means for bringing the repulser into action While the normally engaging dog is disengaged from the rack, and

means for restoring the key and the escape- IO ment to their normal positions, substantially as described.

Subscribed by me this 14th day of November, 1891, in New York city, New York.

FREDERIC XV. HILLARD. In presence of-- THOMAS EWING, J12, S. W. BALCH. 

